This invention relates generally to the valve arts and more particularly to valves used in animal watering apparatus.
Apparatus used to automatically water animals such as foul and livestock have dramatically reduced the time, man power and cost expended in providing animals with necessary quantities of water. Such automatic watering apparatus also permit watering of animals with greater consistency as well as the ability to introduce nutrients and medication through such a watering system. With regard to these automatic watering systems, the benefits are obviously manyfold.
Automatic animal watering systems are not without problems. A considerable problem is to maintain the water dispensed into drinking cups in a sufficiently sanitary condition. Sanitation problems arise from feed and other particulate matter falling into the drinking cups. If the cups are not cleaned regularly, sedimentation comprised of feed and other particulate matter tends to build up in the bottom of the drinking cup potentially fouling the automatic valve mechanism located therein. If a valve becomes fouled, fresh water is not permitted to flow and the water may become contaminated. Also, the number of drinking containers available is reduced thereby increasing competition among the animals for the remaining drinking cups.
In response to these problems, valves were created having regulating devices which were activated by the animals and permitted only positive flow of water out through the valve. Positive water flow through the valve is assured by a check valve device prohibiting back flow into a source manifold to which the valve is attached. A deflecting member is positioned above a discharge port of the valve to deflect water downwardly into the cup to mix the water in the cup with the accumulated sedimentation. Examples of patents which show valves similar to these described above include U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,978 to Nilsen and U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,831 to Nilsen.
While the above-referenced valves reduce the possibility of valve fouling and subsequent sanitation problems other problems have developed. An advantage of the combination of the valve positioned in a container is to create flow patterns in the container, using the natural positive flow of water out of the valve, to mix the water and the sedimentation in the container. Upon mixing, the sedimentation was at least temporarily suspended in water and animals drinking the water would consume the particulate matter thereby decreasing the sedimentation which might build up in the cup and reducing the need to manually clean each cup. However, the valves as shown in the patents referenced above still had some degree of fouling since a top portion of the valve was flat and tended to accumulate sedimentation which, when fowl pecked at the valve, would lodge under the valve wedging the valve into the open position. Further, the valve in the cup formed blind spots out of reach and unaffected by the agitating forces of the discharging water, adding to the sedimentation build up in the cup. This sedimentation build up required periodic manual cleaning to prevent unsanitary conditions from developing.
Up until now, these periodic cleanings have been accepted as a trade-off for the substantial benefits of the generally self-cleaning prior art valve apparatus. However, it has been discovered that a valve can be made to mount on the inside of a drinking cup which agitates the water in the blind spots as well as the rest of the drinking cup thereby preventing sedimentation build up and essentially eliminating the need for periodic manual cleanings.